Sunday, June 03, 2007

Wily Coyote - Trickster god of Native American mythology

Native American myths are amongst my favorite stories. Native Americans have such a sense of humor and it comes through in so many areas of their life. Like most ancient mythologies, the stories were spread via oral tradition and passed on from generation to generation, eventually written down to preserve for centuries to come. The stories of Coyote that are used to explain many of the things that ancient folks didn't understand are quite amusing. Here is a funny summary about Coyote from God Checker.com. If you have a chance, stop by God Checker where you will find thousands of gods to read about who people really did worship (some for thousands of years) and many that people in today's world still believe in.

COYOTE: The wily, tricky, sneaky, pesky, cheaty God of the Wild West. He's the ubiquitous Trickster God and Cultural Hero of Native American mythology, the original Marx Brother and thorn in RAVEN's side.

Responsible for many things, including the Milky Way (see BLACK-GOD) and the diversity of mankind (see HUMAN-MAKER), there are more stories about him than stars in the sky. He ought to have his own website.

For example, did you hear the one about the Spying Moon? It seems that someone had pinched the moon, and COYOTE offered to stand in as replacement. Everyone agreed that he made a fine moon, but from his elevated position COYOTE could see everything that was going on.

Being of an irritating disposition, he couldn't resist blowing the whistle on friends and enemies alike. "Hey, look what BADGER is doing behind his tepee!" Pretty soon everyone was sick of his snooping and voted him out of the sky.

But nothing can keep COYOTE down for long. Being a boastful old show-off, he loves to impress the girls by juggling his eyeballs. One day he threw one so high it got stuck in the sky and became the star Arcturus. So even now he's keeping an eye on us all. See also BADGER, CHINIGCHINICH, RAVEN.

5 comments:

CyberKitten said...

You just gotta love a God with a sense of humour.........

beepbeepitsme said...

No wonder I am the roadrunner and not the coyote. :)

Stardust said...

beepbeep...Wile E Coyote and Road Runner had to have been inspired by Indian mythology and coyote, raven, rabbit, etc.

cyberkitten, I could sit and listen to old Native American myths all day long. I have a whole collection of these stories. They contain a lot of meaningful parables and fables, and there are stories which contain lots of humor.

Unknown said...

Who is the artist from that painting?

Stardust said...

Daniel Owen Stolpe
http://www.nativeimagesgallery.com/woodcuts.htm